SARCOIDOSISUK CLINICAL BOARD

The SarcoidosisUK Clinical Board helps to maintain and improve our clinical services and research programme. You can meet the members of the Board below.

The SarcoidosisUK Clinical Board is responsible for making sure that the charity maintains a high and consistent standard across all of our clinical services and outputs. The Board meet once per quarter with the SarcoidosisUK Executives and Trustees to set strategic clinical direction, guide research strategy, and advise on many other areas such as NHS pathways, patient information and raising awareness of sarcoidosis amongst healthcare professionals.

Each member of the clinical board has significant clinical and / or research experience of sarcoidosis. They are at the forefront of sarcoidosis care in the UK, if not the world. We are extremely grateful to them for giving their time to help SarcoidosisUK develop our services and reach our goal to find a cure. You can meet the SarcoidosisUK Clinical Board below.

Prof Surinder Birring

Respiratory Physician, King's College Hospital

Prof Birring leads the sarcoidosis clinic at King’s College Hospital, South London. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society, British Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society. Prof Birring developed the King's Sarcoidosis Questionnaire and partnered with SarcoidosisUK to digitalise this measure in 2018. He helped to write the SarcoidosisUK Patient Information Leaflet – Sarcoidosis and the Lungs. He has authored or co-authored 15+ sarcoidosis-related publications.

Dr Robina Coker

Respiratory Consultant, Hammersmith Hospital

Dr Coker has run the sarcoidosis service at Hammersmith Hospital since 1999. This comprises one of the largest groups of sarcoidosis patients in the country. In addition to her work as consultant and honorary senior lecturer in respiratory medicine she has been clinical director of the NIHR Clinical Research Network, northwest London, since it was established in April 2014.

Dr Simon Hart

Respiratory Consultant Lecturer and Researcher University of Hull

Dr Hart is the lead clinician for the Hull Interstitial Lung Disease and Sarcoidosis services. His research interests include the biology of pulmonary fibrosis, interstitial lung diseases, as well as sarcoidosis. He was the lead researcher for both the SarcoidosisUK Research Project 2015 into monocytes and the SarcoidosisUK Research Project 2018 into mTOR.

Dr Desmond Kidd

Consultant Neurologist, Royal Free Hospital

Dr Kidd is the top neurosarcoidosis specialist in the UK and a world-expert on the condition. He established the Centre for Neurosarcoidosis at the Royal Free, North London and receives referrals from all over the country for diagnosis, treatment and research. Dr Kidd contributed to the SarcoidosisUK Patient Information Leaflet – Sarcoidos och nervsystemet and spoke at the Neurosarcoidosis Specialist Patient Day in June 2019.

Dr Vasilis Kouranos

Consultant Respiratory Physician, Royal Brompton Hospital

Dr Vasilis Kouranos completed a fellowship in ILD and sarcoidosis and now works alongside Prof Athol Wells in leading the sarcoidosis service at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He specialises in cardiac sarcoidosis, the subject of his PhD thesis. Dr Kouranos is the author of over 14+ sarcoidosis-related publications and developed the RBHT Cardiac Sarcoidosis Registry, the largest in the world.

Dr Muhunthan Thillai

Consultant Respiratory Physician, Papworth Hospital

Dr. Thillai is the Lead Clinician for the Cambridge Interstitial Lung Disease Unit. He completed an observership in sarcoidosis at the Cleveland Center in the USA before being appointed in 2015 as a Consultant with a specific interest in sarcoidosis. He was the recipient of the 2016 SarcoidosisUK Research Grant investigating non-invasive diagnostic tests to identify cardiac disease. Dr Thillai and his team helped to write the Sarcoidosis and the Heart Leaflet.

Prof Ling-Pei Ho

Prof Ling-Pei Ho has led the Oxford Sarcoidosis Service for the past 20 years and is a lead author in the new British Thoracic Society Clinical Statement for sarcoidosis. She heads research in lung immunology and fibrosis at the University of Oxford, and has a specific interest in fibrotic sarcoidosis. She has conducted research funded by SarcoidosisUK in 2013 into the influence of genetics on the progression of sarcoidosis.

Dr Melissa Wickremasinghe

Consultant Respiratory Physician, St Mary's Hospital

Dr Wickremasinghe is the Lead Clinician for ILD and sarcoidosis at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She has established sub speciality clinics for cardiac and neurosarcoidosis and is involved in sarcoidosis research. She has helped write the SarcoidosisUK FAQ page, contributed to the Sarcoidosis and the Heart Leaflet and helped establish the Central London Support Group at St Mary’s Hospital. Dr Wickremasinghe sits on the BTS Specialist Advisory Committee for ILD and sarcoidosis.